SOLO, the best damned comic published by either of the big two in years, has been (if the mounting claims of various loose-lipped freelance artists are to be believed) cancelled. This is an absolute shame, but hardly unexpected. It had a lot going against it: it was an anthology in a direct marketplace that has proven highly reluctant to embrace the form; it was, that rarest of beasts, an editor-led vanity project that ignored populism to spotlight the good taste of one man, in this case Mark Chiarello (who, according to Tim Sale, may have had the wind knocked out of his sails by the sheer amount of work the project involved: "Mark told me a few days ago that SOLO is to be cancelled. I did not then, but I will, ask when or what will happen with the work still in the can. I imagine it will all see print, but that's just a guess. I told Mark I thought it was a real shame, and he surprised me by just sounding tired of the project. Most of the artists involved are either juggling other work or are notorious for being tardy, and it was a lot of work to manage everybody, he said"); ultimately, it again proved that the bottom line is more important to DC than high-minded ideals of furthering the artform. But mainly, I'm feeling personally aggrieved that several of my favourite artists (Bernie Wrightson, Kevin Nowlan, and Brendan McCarthy especially) were working on issues that may very well never see the light of day now.
Bah - foiled again!